2015 Archive Stories Centennial

GARDEN GROVE – If Jalen Hill were to sit down later this month to write a paper for his Corona Centennial High School junior English class on how he spent his summer vacation, the teacher should be prepared to read a tale of a basketball odyssey unique to most 15 year olds.
Hill, a 6-foot-10 developing star for the nationally ranke

LAS VEGAS – There was a point in last weekend’s elimination game of the Fab 48 boys basketball tournament when Trace Redfield took over.
The rising senior from Temecula Rancho Christian, playing for Coastal Elite’s 17-under team, attacked the rim and drew a hard foul from a Division I-committed guard and knocked down bo

LAS VEGAS – Jordan Williams had two points at halftime. But when the game was on the line, Williams became the go-to player down the stretch Saturday as his Compton Magic 16-under team advanced in bracket play of the adidas Uprising tournament at the Cashman Center.
Williams, who will be a junior at Hemet Tahquitz, is in his first

GARDEN GROVE – The question was about his whirlwind basketball summer but Riverside North rising senior Dikymbe Martin’s answer about his best experience was the revelation he had while on a family vaction in Jamaica. There, he said, Tony Gonzalez, his cousin on his mother's side, showed him the type of dedication it takes

The Corona Centennial football team made a strong statement last season by capturing the CIF-Southern Section’s Pac-5 Division championship in its first year in the division.
Now the really hard part comes for the Huskies: preparing to defend that championship against some of the best high school football teams in the region, state

Over its first 10 years, the Southwest County Passing Tournament hosted by Menifee Paloma Valley, has steadily grown and evolved.
The lineman challenge added four years ago has become a signature aspect of the event, and a new wrinkle was added last year when the kicking skills contest debuted.
At its peak, the 7-on-7 field swell

Records are made to be broken. This past track and field season certainly proved that with eight marks falling in Riverside County and four more in San Bernardino County.
That 2015 rewrote the Inland area high school track record book hardly came as a surprise. A year ago, we explored 10 Inland area track records that had a chance to fal

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
JASMYNE GRAHAM
Roosevelt, hurdles/relays, Senior
What she did: The first Inland area girl to sweep both the 100-meter and 300 hurdlers at the CIF State finals since Joanna Hayes of North in 1995. Set Riverside County records in both events. ... 100 winning

No locals were taken on Day 1 of baseball’s First-Year Player Draft, but not because there wasn’t anyone worthy.
Corona pitcher Tristan Beck, a consensus top-75 draft prospect, announced Monday morning that he opted for forgo the draft and will honor his commitment to attend Stanford. Beck’s announcement came less than

Corona Centennial power forward Jalen Hill was named to the USA Basketball 16-and-under national team for the FIBA America's Championship in Argentina next week.
Hill, a 6-foot-10, 200-pound rising junior, averaged 6.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game for the Huskies last season. He holds 11 scholarship offers, including fro

There is only a slight chance that sophomore sprint star Cole Dubots will be able to compete for the Vista Murrieta High boys track team at this weekend's CIF State championships, Broncos coach Coley Candaele said.
Dubots, the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 champion in the 100 meters and a key piece to the Broncos bid for

Tim Kleveno has stepped down as Corona Centennial’s baseball coach, he confirmed Friday.
Kleveno was the Huskies’ coach for the last seven seasons and compiled a 92-102-1 overall record. He’s accepted a teaching and assistant coaching position at Riverside Arlington, his alma mater, for next year.
“Back in January before the seas

RIVERSIDE – The Redlands High boys doubles team of sophomore Brysl Libao and freshman Jansen Comadena earned a singular distinction Thursday at the CIF-Southern Section Boys Individual Tennis Sectionals at Andulka Park. The Citrus Belt League champs were the only Inland area participants at the site – singles or

Competing across 11 divisions in the largest single-day high school mountain biking event in U.S. history, Inland riders from the SoCal League produced two champions, 12 top-five podium spots and 23 top-10 finishes at the California State Finals on Sunday at Los Olivos.
Among a record turnout of 785 riders (up from last year’s reco

TEMECULA – When Corona Centennial and Temecula Valley squared off earlier this season, the Golden Bears got the best of the exchange, doubling up the Huskies in a nonleague affair.
Wednesday’s rematch in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs was closer, 10-8, but still played out much the same way, as host Temecul

RIVERSIDE – To bring home the Big VIII League doubles title, Riverside King simply needed to look to the heart of its singles lineup.
Scott Lucius and Chris Lee had played singles for the Wolves all season, with great success. But the two formed quite an effective pairing in making a run all the way to the doubles title mat

With the postponement of the final two rounds of the Southwestern League finals due to rain on Friday, the process of crowning league champions and earning bids to the CIF Individuals Tournament will stretch into next week.
When the Southwestern League reconvenes at Murrieta Tennis Club on Monday at 11 a.m., Temecula Great Oak’s Josh

CORONA – Rylee Penn had never run track before joining the team at Corona Centennial this spring. She is a soccer player and has been for 10 years.
This is significant because on a day when seniors otherwise dominated the Big VIII League high school track championships, it was the 14-year-old Penn who stole the show.
In a

CORONA – National hurdles leader Jasmyne Graham, competing for the first time in nearly three weeks since straining a hamstring, advanced in both of her hurdles races and won the long jump Tuesday at the Big VIII League preliminary meet at Centennial High.
Graham, a senior at Eastvale Roosevelt who signed with USC, was injur

TEMECULA – In just its third season competing on the high school mountain biking circuit, Temecula Great Oak is in position to accomplish something no team has done in the seven-year history of the SoCal Cycling League.
Junior Evander Hughes, sophomore Trevor McCutcheon and sophomore Cameron Joye each have a sh

Former Corona Centennial basketball standout Sam Finley has signed a national letter of intent with Ole Miss.
Finley, a 6-foot-2 guard, spent his freshman season at UC Riverside before playing his sophomore year at Howard Community College in Texas.
Finley averaged 17 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game at Howard and wa

Sedrick Barefield has long been exceptionally skilled.
By his own admission, however, his best effort wasn’t always there.
"The first few years I would say I was only doing about 50 percent of my effort," the Corona Centennial senior said. "I wasn’t playing hard and I was thinking about the wrong things. This year, I

FIRST TEAM JAELYN BROWN, Jr., F Vista Murrieta
What she did: Great shooter and rebounder who led the Broncos with 17.9 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.1 assist per game. ... Ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation among juniors by espn.com. ... Was selected named to the All-CIF-Southern Section Open Division team. ... Had a seas